PHOEBE ANN (MARTIN) CROSBY

     This Page has been written in the first person, as Phoebe is currently the sole writer for this Web Site.  Also, be aware that blue underlined words indicate a link you can click for either a photo or a page...

OKLAHOMA - THE BEGINNING
     I was born in 1943, in Stillwater, Oklahoma, a university town, to Paul F. and Winnifred P. Martin.  These were the war years and my father was a college professor there at that time.  (Dad taught geography and map reading to Flyers.)  Almost two years later my oldest brother Paul David was also born there.  About a year after that, my parents elected to make a move to Alaska.  My father had been there during his college years on a research project and fell in love with the land.

THE ALASKA YEARS
     In 1946, on a progressive basis, our family moved to Alaska, first my father earlier that year to find us a place to live, then my mother, brother, & I in September of the year. The home my father found for us was a Colony House/Acreage (circa 1935) in the Matanuska Valley, which was, and still is the main agricultural center of Alaska. At first this home was rather primitive, with no running water and only an outhouse. Water was drawn by a hand pump from a well in a separate building. A couple of years later my parents had the pump motorized and we actually had cold running water piped into that house. We had electricity from the very start, and several years later a hand crank telephone.
     About the time I was 10, my folks started building a new home several hundred yards from our original house. This home had a full basement on which was built the roofed, outer shell of the main story in the initial phase. The lower half of the outside walls of new home were constructed of logs recovered from the colony barn they took down. The fireplaces on both levels were done in native rock, which we all collected, cracked, and cemented in place as a family project, both inside and out. The basement was finished off, and we lived in it for some 5 years before my folks secured a loan to finish the main story.  Here finally we had hot and cold running water.  All of the interior work and much of the exterior work was completed by the immediate family members, including my brother and I.  During my teen years I learn the basics of a number of home construction skills.
     In June 1954 I think it was, my parents sent me back East all by myself, to visit both sets of grandparents, and two sets of Aunts and Uncles, one of whom lived outside of NYC.  After a week there, I spent the rest of the stay in Eastern Massachusetts shuttling between my mother's parents and my fathers sister's home where his parents were staying.  Dad's folks home had sustained Tornado Damage just a few days before I left Alaska and were living temporarily with my Aunt/Uncle during repairs.  The flight legs from Anchorage across Canada in the PNA Constellations were very uncomfortable for me as the cabin pressure was not all that good and I got air sick.  The flight ledges from Minneapolis to New York was much nicer as aircraft were newer and better equipped.
     My early schooling was all accomplished in the Palmer School System. We live some three miles SE of town in a rural area, and traveled to school by bus with all grade levels on the same bus. All grade levels 1st thru 12th were housed in the same school building until I was in Junior High.  Probably when I was in the 4th or 5th grade an addition was added to the South end, which the 10th thru 12th occupied  About 4 years after that addition was built, a separate Senior High School was built. I think our Class of 1961 was either the 4th or 5th one to graduate from the new facility. I did not plan to go on to college, so looked for work in Anchorage that summer following graduation.
    Through several grade school years I belonged to a Brownie, then Girl Scout troop populated by several of my later high school classmates.  My mother and a couple of other mothers were our leaders over the years.  
     I enjoyed music and therefore participating in High School Band and Drum Corp after school activities during all four years.  Both the Band and Drum Corp participated in the Annual Music Festivals held alternate years in Anchorage and Fairbanks, as well as local Football and Basketball Games.  The Drum Corps also did some parades including the Fur Rendezvous held in Anchorage in February.  In those same years I also participated in Chores activities, which often coincided with those same Music Festival Competitions, as well as local music department concerts.
     During those same years I was a Junior Member of the Civil Air Patrol.  (The adult members participate in much of the Search and Rescue activity for downed aircraft throughout Alaska.)  The highlight of each year was our Annual Encampment on Elmendorf AFB in the Anchorage area, a period of military style training activities.  I was privileged to learn the basics of flying while with this organization.  I never got to fly Solo in those years, however I studied for and took the Private Pilot's written exam twice, but failed to pass the test both times. 
     About the year I was in fifth grade, my youngest brother was born - Peter Lawrence.  Since I was almost 12 years older, helping to care for him afforded a vast amount of "schooling" in how to care for babies and small children.
     From the age of 10 and on through High School I participated in 4-H Club activities including Cooking/Baking, Gardening, Livestock Raising - Poultry, Hogs, Calves. I won several regional awards and did very well at the Annual Matanuska Fairs 
     Early in my Junior Year of High School, I met my future husband, David Michael Crosby.  We became engaged Christmas Time 1960 and were married on September 9, 1961. During the time between our engagement and wedding, Dave spent 6 months of basic training for the local Army Reserve Group at Ft. Ord, California. We feared for a while that the wedding might have to be postponed if the Army decided not to release Dave from active duty, due to the Bay of Pigs (Cuban) fiasco.  
     After a short Honeymoon down on the Kenai Peninsula (Dave had to get back to work right away), we started married life in a small, basically one room newer cabin located south of Anchorage International Airport.  It did have electric heat, but no telephone.   It also had no running water; we showered at a neighbor's, and used an outhouse once again in my life!  It was a cute little place, but totally inadequate once our first son, Daniel Bruce arrived on August 11, 1962. Just before Christmas that year, we sold this place, and rented a mobile home in a small city park for a while which had twice the room.
     Some months later we moved into a large three-story apartment complex in the Spenard area suburbs SE of Anchorage. During the 18 months we were there we changed apartments once, from a 2, to 1 bedroom unit to save money just prior to our NY trip.  We traveled to Rochester, NY late 1963 to meet my husband's family.  We had a great time visiting relatives all around that area.  After Dave returned to Anchorage, Dan and I went on to Massachusetts to visit with my Paternal Grandparents and my father's sister/brother-in-law for a week.  
     Shortly after we were all back from that vacation, we experienced the March 27, 1964 Earthquake.  Dave moved us out to my parents home south of Palmer for several weeks until utilities were restored and our apartment building was cleared to reoccupy.  It was located quite close to the Turnagain Subdivision, where many homes were lost down the hillside.  
     With our growing family we started our search for a modest home that we could afford shortly after the Earthquake. I was expecting for the second time.  We finally found what we wanted in the summer, a brand new home in a suburb south of downtown Anchorage.  The construction of our home was not even started when we put money down. We were able to move in sometime soon after we welcomed the arrival of our second son, Steven Russell in September 14, 1964. 
     Our last child, a daughter, Teresa Ann arrived September 4, 1966. Over the 8 years we lived in our first real home, we spent many happy hours doing creative landscaping on a highly sloped back yard, and in the front yard area.  We also finished off the basement area, creating a 3rd bedroom (Master), a 3/4 Bathroom, a small shop area, and a playroom for the children.
     About the time Teresa turned 3, I found the need to seek employment. I started working on a part time basis, but a year later, I found a full time job with the State of Alaska, Department of Highways running the Reproduction Section – Blue line, Photocopier, and later Offset Press printing functions. I worked at that job until 1973.  After a vacation to visit mom and friends in Washington, I transferred to the Department of Natural Resources, Division of Lands, into a similar position.  I worked there until fall of 1975.
     In 1972, Dave became aware of a beautiful custom built, all log home that was for sale back in the Matanuska Valley, about 6 miles from where I had grown up. We sold our Anchorage home, and with this move settled into a very rural country lifestyle. The home stood on some 5 acres along the East end of what is now known as Jim Cottrell Circle, on the edge of the bench.  We later acquired another 5 acres down over that bench face to keep our seclusion intact. We still kept our jobs in Anchorage, which required a 50-mile commute twice a day in all kinds of weather. This made for long workdays, but we felt it was worth it to have the lifestyle we preferred when we arrived home.
     A disruption in my life occurred in late 1975, which necessitated my moving to Washington State to live for a while.  I stayed with friends I had worked with at Highway Department, who had earlier moved from Alaska to take up Orcharding. There I spent time learning many of the facets of the orchard business, starting with harvest through winter pruning. I also spent a few weeks learning to hand-pack apples as well. It was a personally difficult winter for me. However, with the help of friends I met while living there, I got right with the Lord and became a Born Again Christian. This enabled me to get back with my family again.
     In February of 1976, Dave flew down to see what apple orcharding was all about.  He stayed a week talking to all the local orchard friends before we drove back to Alaska in the dead of winter over the Alcan Highway. Two months later we decided that living in Alaska had become counter productive for us, and that maybe we should try a completely new lifestyle, in a new state altogether. With that in mind, we put our Alaska home up for sale, and started working on locating an orchard property to purchase. In May, Dave had me fly down to Seattle and travel to the Wenatchee, WA area with a realtor friend of Mothers, to see what could be found at that time.  During that week long trip, a potential property was located, and I set up a bank account to receive funds from our Alaska home sale.  After returning to Alaska and having sold our Matanuska Valley Home rather quickly, we packed up a 16' furniture truck we purchased with everything we owned and headed south over the Alcan Highway at the end of June 1976. So ended nearly 30 years of continuous residency in Alaska for us.

THE WASHINGTON YEARS
     We arrived in Washington State on July 4, with no definite destination as yet, though we felt that we would like to live in the Wenatchee Valley somewhere. At first we spent some time with my mother who owned a home in Fall City, not far from Seattle at that time.  We got reconnected with our first realtor contact, and the second one who actually was located in Wenatchee right away by phone. Shortly after arriving we drove over to Wenatchee, to look at the potential orchard property in the East Wenatchee that we found in May. We could not come to terms with the seller, so thought that this might be a good time for us to drive back East, to see our New York and New England relatives and friends. With our worldly goods safely packed and stored in the furniture truck, now safely parked on a friend’s property, we felt certain we were secure in making this trip, while waiting for some other orchard properties to come on the market around harvest time.
     On the night before we left mother’s for points east, our Wenatchee realtor called to ask us to stop again in Wenatchee on our way through, to view another orchard prospect. We did so, and before leaving for New York the next day, we had put down earnest money on what would become our home two months later. From that point on we spent two great months relaxing and getting reacquainted with family and friends. Oddly enough, this would be one of the few real vacations we would take as a family.
     With the Labor Day weekend, we arrived back in Wenatchee to begin our new life.  We drove over to Fall City, picked up our storage truck, and spent that weekend moving into the original home on the orchard property.  (This was a fairly new Doublewide Mobile home.  We added a Two Story Building a couple of years later.)  Over the next few days we unpacked our belongings, and got our children settled into the East Wenatchee/Eastmont School System. 
     Since we were not actually going to take over the hands on operation of the orchard until after harvest, we worked along side the former owner, asking lots of questions and soaking up information like a sponge. With the final signing of papers, we got right to work learning the business and working the Ranch.
     From 1976 to 1999, we ran our orchard with a fair amount of success. We had our ups and downs financially, but generally the first 20 years went rather well.  During those two decades we had one spectacular year of high returns, proceeded three years early by one with extremely low returns.  In the particularly good year we were able to establish a second home in the second orchard block - a Triple Wide Manufactured Home, freeing our first home for use by family members, and later a steady man and his family.  We raised our children on the good farm work ethics and got them launched into adulthood through the years they resided with us.  
     Over the years I personally learned and performed many of the orchard operational functions along with my husband.  With the exception of operating the speed sprayer, I often acted as my husband’s steady man. I also did all the bookkeeping and business management functions for the Ranch during these years. I did work for others off the Ranch.  In the early summer I often worked at a neighbor's Cherry Packing Facility in late '80's and early '90's, mostly in the Cold Room getting packed cherries ready for shipment.  Then during the fall and winter months for much of the decade of the ‘80’s, I worked at another nearby Packing Shed, hand packing apples.  I got pretty good at this, and on some good days could pack over 200 Forty Pound Boxes of apples
     On a personal basis, I tried my hand at raising a number of farm related animals, mostly horses and sheep, in the hopes of making a go of something besides our apples, to supplement our income. We raised the sheep for their fleece crop mostly for personal use, as well as for butcher lamb sales. I raised horses for many years, but I particularly enjoyed working with the Miniature Horses I owned in the later years.  I bred the Minis, trained a couple to drive, and had them and others shown by a professional handler friend. Unfortunately none of these animal enterprises really paid their own way, and we subsequently fazed them out in turn.
     In addition to our animal ventures, we tried several non-animal business enterprises, again in an attempt to supplement our income during what was becoming a sagging fruit economy. I worked to developed the Original Web Site with my son, Dan’s help, in order to help promote my horse sales, my Art From The Orchard Business (mainly my Spun Yarn activities, and our daughter Teresa’s Artwork).  Later we used the site to promote the sale of several custom orchard equipment innovations. However, our timing apparently was off and nothing seemed to do very well.
     We spent much of the decade of the ‘90’s, developing and attempting to market several custom orchard equipment items conceived by my husband Dave, and later developed and expanded upon by other family members. These included the Branch Bender - a tree limb spreading device, the ATC Mini Bin Trailer, and the Easy On Bin Covers. Our children formed a loose partnership for a while to manufacture and market the Branch Bender, but gave up that business when sales failed to meet their expectations of total support. Steve fabricated the ATC Mini Bin Trailers for us after that, and I put together the Easy On Bin Covers.
     As the 20^th Century came to a close, it became increasingly apparent that a recession was overtaking the fruit industry. In addition to the lower returns for our Apples, our Ranch was hit with a natural disaster in June 1998, a severe hailstorm that devastated over 40% of our crop, severely impacting our financial picture.
     All farming income is driven by the supply and demand dynamic.  The year 1999 was the last year we actively farmed our Orchard. Apple Returns were again far below the cost of production for the third year in a row, and we were subsequently refused working capital by all available lending institutions, including the Farm Home Administration, for the 2000 crop year. That effectively brought to a halt our apple raising years.
     In order to keep the trees alive and productive, we rented our orchard for that year to a knowledgeable grower family, just to keep it in good shape. The Renters had a very successful crop year in terms of quantity and quality of fruit, but declined to rent another year.  We then rented for the years 2001 through 2003 to a neighbor, who ran the orchard successfully until we were forced to leave the Ranch.  For those years we got NO RETURNS TO US, and therefore none to the Lender.
     During much of the year 2000 through 2002, I held various part time jobs, many in the fruit industry, trying to help keep us afloat financially. During the summer of 2003, after a succession of short lived jobs, I was unable to find any other gainful employment - nothing permanent.  I remained at home and focused on growing the biggest and best garden we ever had, some 2500 sq. ft. in size.  It was so successful that we gave away huge amounts of vegetables to many...
     In the Fall of 2000, my husband Dave was finally able to find good part time work, to supplement the Social Security income he obtained that spring.  This was good as I was unable to find anything in the way of quality work, even though I looked and interviewed several times.  It was becoming evident over the next couple of years, that if and when we lost the Orchard, we would have to move elsewhere as we could not possibly remain in the Wenatchee Valley, nor could we make it anywhere else in Washington without my working as well.
     With the spring of 2003, we were told that the Lender was going to take legal action on the Orchard Notes.  We had tried for the past 3 years to negotiate our way out of this possibility without success.  In May the Judgment was passed in the Lender's favor, and in September the property was auctioned off in a Sheriff's Sale.  We as farmers, by law had one year left before moving was inevitable.  In December however, the Lender/Buyer offered us an option to vacate the property ahead of the one year mark, and in return we could thus avoid any further judgments against us.  We agreed to this via negotiation, with the stipulation that we not have to vacate the property until March 31, 2004.  From December on, now that we really were facing the Great Unknown. I, along with my husband, stood on the Will of the Lord for our future, as we prepared to leave our home area of some 28 years.
      Since making a trip down to Jacksonville, FL at the invitation of our oldest son in December of 2003, we felt that perhaps this might be the area for us to settle in.  With that in mind, Dave quite his job in mid January 2004, and flew down to find work and a home for us to move to.  I in turn set to work by first buying a cargo trailer, then packing our personal  possessions while holding  multiple yard/moving sales to reduce what we wanted to take to a level that would fit in the cargo trailer and in the back of our big Dodge pickup.
     We can surely testify that the Lord does provided!  Out of the blue, while Dave was unsuccessfully looking for a home and work in Jacksonville, FL, a friend from our Alaska Days, Rebecca (Woolcot) Polizzotto, who knew of our plight, up and contacted us with a very interesting proposal.  It seems that she and her husband Jeff were about to leave Conyers, GA for a new home and business venture in Juneau, AK.  Her problem was that her sister, Barbara Woolcot, lived in the down stairs half of their home, and Becky needed renters she could trust to occupy the upstairs of the home.  We thought this sounded fine, but we still needed work for Dave.  Becky said that was not a problem, as she was still the Conyers City Manager and could help him get a job with the City.  Dave went up to Conyers to view the home and job possibilities.  Satisfied that the move to Conyers was feasible, he flew back to Wenatchee in early  March to help me finish packing.  On March 31, at 5 p.m., we drove out of the Wenatchee Valley, on our way to Conyers, GA and yet another new beginning.

THE GEORGIA YEARS
     After leaving Washington State, we arrived in Georgia some 10 days later having made a couple of stops in between for visits during this cross country trip.  It actually was several weeks before we finally were able to settle into the rental home we were to occupy.  Becky and her husband Jeff could not leave Conyers at the same time we were due to arrive, so they sent us up into North Carolina to do caretaker work on Jeff’s mountain home in the Bostic/Cherry Mountain area.  We parked our loaded cargo trailer on the back of the Conyers property and drove up to the mountain home.  We spent the next six weeks clearing brush and debris, generally sprucing the grounds up to improve its sale potential, while enjoying a much needed rest from the previous months of frustration.  The Mountain home sold while we were there, helping to clear the way for us to return to Conyers.
     We finally were able to locate in Conyers in late May and began an unknown period of time living and working there.  After unpacking and settling into our rented home, we next located a church body we could call “home” and went about serving the Lord there.  Over the few years there, we made many good friends in church and otherwise.
     In the first week of June, Dave started his job with the Landscaping Department of the City of Conyers.  After working only 7 months he had to quite this job due to medical problems.  In April and July of 2004 he had major surgeries to correct both this problems (see Dave's profile).  He recovered enough to return to the work force in January 2006, but had to finally retire for good in April.  Try as he might things seem to get progressively worse in minor ways health wise.  He did his best to keep up the yard and the house somewhat as I continued working.
     In July of 2004 I too found work, with Becky’s brother Sid Woolcot and his wife, as part of their New Home Cleaning Crew.  I started out as a window cleaner, but over a period of time added Finally Cleaning abilities throughout the entire house.  Work for me proved satisfying, but at times was somewhat uncomfortable.  New homes often did not have heat (winter) or cooling (summer), and frequently had no electricity available except via drop cords from outside construction meters, making working conditions difficult at times.  We had a huge scare about 1 ½ years after I started with the company when our boss/crew chief, Sid experienced a major heart attach on the job site!  Sid never recovered enough to return to work with us full time while I was still working for them.  Fortunately the crew was reliable enough to carry on with the work assignments on our own. I continued to work at this job until July 2006, when the intense summer heat and age finally caught up with me, forcing me to retire fully as well.  I had started my early Social Security benefits a year earlier, so at least we maintained adequate incomes for the time being.
     Shortly after I quite work, Becky found it necessary to put the Conyers home we had been renting up for sale, and prepare to move her sister Barbara north to Juneau to live with her.  With that ended our reason for remaining in this area.
     We immediately set to work researching just where we would like to go next, in what we hoped would be the last move for us.  After much searching on the Internet, we narrowed the locale for our next home to somewhere in the northwestern section of North Carolina.  By October we had secured a realtor from the Hickory area, and towards the end of the month after a couple of trips up to view properties within a 30 mile radius of there, we settled on a home 5 miles east of the Lenoir.  Closing date was set for December 12, and our projected move planned for mid January 2007.  Plans finalized, packing once again started in earnest.  This time we elected to make our move with a commercial moving company.  Dave and I were getting just too old to do big self-moves.
      Wednesday, January 16, 2007 arrived and it was now time to leave. We had said our goodbyes to all our Friends in the Conyers Area. By mid afternoon the moving truck was packed and had left.  We elected to be off to our new home in Lenoir, NC that very afternoon, rather than camp that night in Conyers....

THE NORTH CAROLINA YEARS THUS FAR...
     We drove both our vehicles pretty well loaded, driving together up to Lenoir.  We arrived in the dark, but had keys in hand.  We already had some items stored in the garage, as we had hauled an 8' U-Haul up from Conyers December 12 when we came to sign papers.  Being rather tired, we parked both vehicles in the garage, got our big air mattress & sleeping bags and "crashed".
     Thursday we went shopping for major appliances we needed, for a Saturday delivery and install.  Friday morning the movers arrived and had to unpack the truck during the only snow/sleet fall of the year.  This went quickly as I had everything mapped out as to where the boxes and furniture were to be placed.  With the arrival of the appliances, our home was pretty functional.  We spent the next week getting most of the boxes unloaded and putting away their contents.
    With the arrival of warm weather, our work focus turned to our yard.  There were a lot of changes that needed to be done in the backyard.  The back third had nothing but the native trees, vines, and brush.  It was a really tangled mess that need to be cleaned up.  We selected a spot to open up much wider, so we would have a place to burn.  Vines and useless brush got chopped out, then the smaller, spindly trees were removed.  More thinning was done over several week.  What we accomplished was to create a Park like setting and still maintained enough habitat for birds and small animals.
     The next area we tackled was the steep sloping middle third of the back yard.  We tilled a small area for a vegetable garden and planted mainly Cucumbers and Tomatoes, plus some bush Beans.  Dave was having trouble going up and down the hillside, with his back getting worse.  I designed a staircase pathway, whereby we cut steps into the mostly clay hill side, then faced the front and top edge of each step with cast scalloped edging and the top of each rise area with 10 hole bricks.
     Spring of 2008 saw more of the same; tree thinning in the woods, expansion of the garden some, and unfortunately a major redo of the staircase fronts.  Voles had tunneled under a couple of the step fronts, and heavy rains during the winter had washed away areas, making most of the steps unstable.  I worked on stabilizing these areas on every step with 13 bags of concrete with some metal reinforcement behind and under the concrete edge blocks.  That did the trick as we have not had any more problems.  Later on that summer we started the makeover process on the rest of the sloped area by planting some shrubbery here and there.  It was simply too difficult to try to keep a lawn area going...
     During the winter months, the repainting of the interior of our home began.  First the livingroom, entry area, and hallway to bedrooms was done.  The next areas tackled were our two main bedrooms.  The Office walls and the two bathrooms will be worked on next.  Eventually the kitchen and dining areas will need to be done, but only when there are funds put aside to do a major renovation there.
     With the beginning of the warm months of 2009, we started in earnest to remove all the existing ground cover of sparse grass and weeds as we began a total renovation of this section.  We bought more shrubbery, perennials, and found large rocks on the property to create a couple little rock garden areas.  We expanded the garden again by stacking a couple of railroad ties and leveling the grade by adding top soil.  Of course we put in a thick layer of mulch to hold the weeds down.  By the end of the sloped area looked so much better.
     We also put a 4 foot extension on our deck, purchased a Gazebo Canopy, and added an 8 foot trellis off the end of the fern, hosta, shade perennials bed against the house.  All these back of the house additions turned out quite well.
     In 2010, we concentrated on making adjustment to some of the things we originally planted due to uncontrollable growth in a couple of cases, and loss in others.  Items we thought would do well and be great additions were not always so.  we purchased a large dump truck load of mulch and added another 2" to the areas that needed more.  We also started some renovation on the front yard landscaping.  We removed the original Privet and Boxwood shrubs along the side of the garage, and replaced them with some colorful varieties of Rose of Sharon bushes for summer color.
     This year (2011) we are focusing on maintenance in the backyard and one overhaul project where the driveway and the front side walk meet.  Since we did not have the money for a complete redo of what has become a very weedy front lawn, Dave suggested we start a large rock garden area.  It is only partially done as we can not find enough of a variety of  suitable plants as summer comes on....